Wheelchairs are well known in the prior art as a means of transportation for injured or disabled persons. Although sophisticated wheelchairs can be custom built at great expense, the majority of wheelchairs are fairly basic in design.
Typically, conventional wheelchairs comprise a pair of tubular side frames with a flexible seat disposed there between. The side frames are connected to one another under the seat by a cross brace that allows the side frames to be laterally folded together for compact storage of the wheelchair. A pocket is provided on the back side of the seat for storing materials of the user.
A wheelchair travels on a pair of main spoked wheels and a pair of front caster wheels. The main wheels are conventionally journaled to the side frames to allow forward and rearward travel of the wheelchair. The main wheels are relatively large and include a coaxially mounted push-ring to facilitate movement of the wheelchair by the user.
The front caster wheels are vertically axled to the side frames to allow the wheelchair to be turned in any direction. Thus, the user may move the wheelchair and negotiate obstacles without assistance. In this way, conventional wheelchairs fulfill their essential purpose of providing a means of transportation for the user.
An inadequacy of conventional wheelchairs, however, is a lack of basic accessories to support the needs and activities of users. This is especially problematic in an era where disabled persons are increasingly active and self-reliant.
For example, because a wheelchair user must use both hands to move him or herself in a wheelchair, he or she cannot carry materials unless an area is provided on the wheelchair for storing the materials during transit. Although the conventional wheelchair has a storage pocket on the back side of the seat, this pocket is inaccessible to a user. Thus, the user can only carry and use materials that other individuals have stored and later removed for the user. Such reliance on others greatly reduces the freedom of the user. Thus, there exists a need in the art for a wheelchair storage area that is accessible to the user and that does not interfere with the operation of the wheelchair.
A related problem with conventional wheelchairs is the storage of catheter bags for users with bladder related medical problems. Catheter bags collect urine for such users via a catheter tube and thereby allow them to travel freely without fear of an embarrassing accident.
Presently, catheter bags are hooked either to the side frame of a wheelchair or to the cross brace beneath the seat. A problem with hooking a catheter bag to a side frame is that it may tangle with an adjacent main wheel and rupture or pull the catheter tube free, which can injure the user because the catheter tube is secured in the user's urethra by an inflated balloon. Another problem with hooking a catheter bag to a side frame is that urine will back up in the catheter tube and cause a bladder infection if the catheter bag is not maintained at a position below the user's bladder.
Hooking a catheter bag to a cross brace beneath the seat will prevent the problem of urine backing up in the catheter tube. However, because the cross brace is beneath the seat, the catheter bags often drag on the ground. As a result, catheter bags are easily dislodged from a cross brace, causing them to rupture or to pull the catheter tube free. Furthermore, the cross brace is not accessible to the user. Thus, use of a cross brace for storing a catheter bag requires the user to rely on other individuals.
Additionally, the presence of a catheter bag, which can be as large as one liter, is obvious to all bypassers when hooked to either the side frame or the cross brace of a wheelchair. Such publicity of a user's private medical condition can cause embarrassment and lead the user to shy away from public areas. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a safe and concealed means of storing catheter bags on a wheelchair.
Another problem associated with conventional wheelchairs is a lack of exercises that can be performed from a wheelchair. This is especially problematic for disabled persons, such as paraplegics, who are largely confined to a wheelchair and are thus limited to activities that can be performed from the wheelchair. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a means of performing exercises from a conventional wheelchair.
Yet another problem associated with conventional wheelchairs is a lack of protection for the user's hands and fingers, which can become caught in the spokes of the main wheels and injured. Additionally, the spokes can become entangled with foreign objects, causing damage to the spokes and possibly causing the wheelchair to become stuck and the user stranded. Thus, there exists a need in the art for an effective means of shielding the spokes from a user's hands and other foreign objects.